5 Hurricanes That Are Actually Pretty Cool

1. The Cocktail: This New Orleans drink made from rum and fruit juices was invented by Pat O’Brien in the 1940s. Interestingly, O’Brien only concocted it because he needed to get rid of a lot of excess rum. He even gave them away for free to visiting sailors. The drink is now a staple of Mardi Gras and Cajun-flavored parties across the country.

2. The Football Team: The Miami Hurricanes have won five national championships (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001) in their 86-year history. The ’Canes are currently unranked with a 4-3 record, but are 3-1 in the ACC.

3. The Wrestler: Gregory “The Hurricane” Helms has had a 21-year career in professional wrestling. In WCW he won the Hardcore title before claiming the Cruiserweight championship, and his reign of 385 days was a record. Currently Helms is wrestling on the independent circuit.

4. The Boxer: Ruben “Hurricane” Carter was the middleweight champion of the world in the early 1960s, before he was convicted murder in New Jersey in 1967. He claimed to be innocent, and eventually witnesses against him recanted their testimony. Carter received a new trial and was convicted again in 1976. Then, in 1985, Carter was freed, after a judge claimed that his conviction was "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure."

5. The Song: In 1975, Bob Dylan wrote a high-energy, eight-minute-long epic about Carter, simply called “Hurricane.” While the song itself is quite well known, it also served as some pretty sweet entrance music for Matthew McConaughey in the 1993 flick ‘Dazed and Confused’: